Some people seem to think BC has only been in China a few months. I read on a foreign (outside China) website that they think we just started BC in Feb. This is not the case at all. I believe the license quoted refers to the entire game and not just the expansion.

So just clearing that up. BC has been in China-- well I don't know how long but a long time. ;P

Yes they did. I can't remember the exact dates but we were all playing free WoW for a while. I think it was around that time when they gave us that Jade Tiger thing that looked like a Rubik's cube on a NA client.

The period of free play was last summer holiday during the license transfer from the9 to netease. I rememember this clearly because I was trying to make an account but could not during this period. I started about September 1st last year. There was no free period after that.

Some people seem to think BC has only been in China a few months. I read on a foreign (outside China) website that they think we just started BC in Feb. This is not the case at all. I believe the license quoted refers to the entire game and not just the expansion.

So just clearing that up. BC has been in China-- well I don't know how long but a long time. ;P

I think most are aware that BC was out for a long time in China (released September 2007 to be exact), but when NetEase took over the licensing rights they were told that they didn't have the approval to "release" BC. Maybe there was just some confusion on the news websites about the word "release".

On November 2, 2009 NetEase was ordered to stop collecting fees (which were deemed illegal) and to stop allowing new users. Here's the link: http://www.wow.com/2009/11/02/chinas-gapp-halts-wow-review-calls-collecting-subscriptions-i/

But, they didn't re-apply for approval until February 7, 2010 (which was 4 months later.) So during that 4 month gap they were not supposed to collect fees.

Perhaps they continued collecting fees and just decided to pay the fine afterwards? It was settled in court, but the details of the settlement were never announced.

The period of free play was last summer holiday during the license transfer from the9 to netease. I rememember this clearly because I was trying to make an account but could not during this period. I started about September 1st last year. There was no free period after that.

There was a "beta test" during August 2009 by NetEase to test their new servers. For those lucky enough to get in, it was pretty much free-to-play for 1 month.

Meanwhile, the servers were transitioned between June 09 and Sept 09 (from The9 to NetEase.)

But then on Nov 2009, NetEase was told not to accept new players. That should have went on between Nov 2009 and Jan 2010. Do you remember new accounts being stopped during those months?

Yes they did. I can't remember the exact dates but we were all playing free WoW for a while. I think it was around that time when they gave us that Jade Tiger thing that looked like a Rubik's cube on a NA client.

The Jade Tiger vanity pet was given out to players who were logged in between Oct 19 and Nov 24. It was a gift as a "Welcome Back to Azeroth" because the servers were offline for such a long time.

Do you remember it being free BEFORE receiving this pet, or did you get the pet during or after the time when it was free?

The pet coincides with the times when the game was supposed to be free.

I also found a good thread when WoW was supposed to stop charging players/making new accounts found here http://wow-in-chinese.forum2jeux.com/general-f1/new-wow-blackout-coming-guys-t1352.htm but i honestly don't think that they did that. During this time I was waiting for WotLK and found it pointless to play until it was released. Lots of rumors and false hopes going around that we all really thought that it was just around the corner.

Anyways, dig around those threads and the ones near them to get the answers you need...unless of course you've already done that.

Last edited by Crom on Mon 16 Aug 2010 - 16:28; edited 4 times in total

A late response, but half the replies here seem to be fairly innacurate.

They did stop charging, but only because they were forced to - due to issues about the partnership of NetEase with Blizzard and a foreign company not being allowed to operate online gaming domestically in China. Therefore they were not allowed to make money from the game until the joint venture issues had been investigated to determine who was in control of it etc.

It was not so much an issue of approval of the game at this point. But they kept the servers open calling it a 'Beta test' and allowed all those with accounts to continue playing for free, (the last thing they would have wanted was to lose their player base - especially as Aeon etc had just come out at that point) but they stopped any new players from creating accounts. I still had my account with leftover time from The9 still on it, and this time was untouched for the duration of this so-called 'Beta' period (which lasted for almost 2 months as I recall).

Once the joint-venture issue had been settled, they were then able to charge again and make money from it. However, there still remained the issue about approval of the content and the latest patches. The ongoing future of being able to play WoW was uncertain for a long time, however they were able to start charging - even if that happened before they opened up account creation.

When they were allowed to start charging again they made an announcement saying something to the effect of the free-time having been a 'thank you' for continued support from its player base (as well as having given out a free vanity pet) and made no allusion to it ever having been due to legal complications.

The 'Beta' tag was purely a cover to appease players and non-charging meant they broke no additional laws.

As for the pet, as far as I recall that was given out to all existing players as soon as NetEase first reopened their servers after extended downtime during the handover from The9. This was also partly due to legal complications between The9 and Blizzard. (The9 sued Blizzard on copyright issues, defamation and asset damage.) This pet would therefore probably have been during the 'beta' (free) period. I think only players who logged in during the first month of 'Beta' received this pet.

There was also a second pet give-away once all the legal issues had been resolved and the beta ended - in the form of the little gladiator murloc. All beta players and post-beta accounts received this one in the mail.

A couple of my toons didn't get the Jade tiger as I didn't play them during the beta period and probably lost it in the expired mail. However pretty much all my toons have the Murloc.

Edit:

Having just checked my screenshots folder, I notice that I got my first Murloc on 31 July 2009, and the Jade Tiger on 23 October 2009, so I guess I got them the wrong way around. The murloc was therefore the one during the free period. Probably why most of my toons have it. The Tiger was later after I had semi given up on playing and waiting for WotLK which is why many of my toons don't have it.